"Max rode a fantastic session," said Marlboro Yamaha Team director Davide Brivio. "He's been fast since we started work yesterday and he's just kept getting faster, focusing on minor adjustments to suspension and engine mapping. Carlos was also very much in the fight for pole but one of his engines broke towards the end of the session, so then he had to use his second bike, with which he hadn't don't so much set-up work. I think both our guys can have very strong races tomorrow, my only concern is the weather, there's a chance of rain and that could spoil everything."

Fastest yesterday, Max Biaggi was once again in formidable form this afternoon, improving his lap times no less than five times during the final qualifier, run in sultry, overcast conditions at this high-speed track on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Concentrating on his older M1 chassis, because he's more familiar with this unit, the Marlboro Yamaha Team man fought off challenges for pole position from a number of rivals, including Daijiro Kato (Honda), Jeremy McWilliams (Proton), Valentino Rossi (Honda) and team-mate Carlos Checa, the only man to actually get ahead of him.

"I'm really, really, really happy with that!" beamed Biaggi. "I've been pushing hard since yesterday morning and my target for tomorrow is to win. This isn't one of my favourite circuits, it's so bumpy, but the crew and I have worked hard to get the bike and Michelin tyres working on the bumps. I really got my head down for the last ten minutes, trying to improve my times some more. The bike is working very well and we did a successful tyre endurance run this morning, so my thanks, as always, to my team and the Japanese technicians."

This was the 51st pole position of Biaggi's career and his third of 2002. He gave the M1 its first pole at June's Catalan GP and repeated that performance at last month's Czech GP, following that with race victory.

Carlos Checa was also in stunning form at Jacarepagua this afternoon, storming ahead of Max Biaggi with 15 minutes to go, but the Spaniard was denied a chance of reacting to his team-mate's successful counter attack when his number-one bike broke an engine. Undeterred, the Marlboro Yamaha Team man returned to the pits to continue with his second bike, fitted with the older M1 chassis, but wasn't comfortable enough with this machine to improve his times. At the end of the session he had slipped to fifth.

"The engine problem was a shame, but better it happens today than tomorrow," said a philosophical Checa. "Without that, maybe I could've gone a few tenths faster and maybe I could've got pole but the main thing is that we'd already found a good chassis set-up and I'd already been riding some consistently fast laps. We also ran an endurance test with Michelin this morning, so I know we're okay on tyre life. Overall we're in pretty good shape."

Valentino Rossi left it until the very end of the session to lift himself to the front row, slotting in just behind Max Biaggi and ahead of Jeremy McWilliams and Garry McCoy (Yamaha). "We've had some problems here and the bike still isn't 100 per cent," said Rossi who can secure the title tomorrow if he wins the race with team-mate Tohru Ukawa lower than third.
 

-----   Red Bull   -----

Garry McCoy produced a rousing display to slot his Red Bull Yamaha on to the front row of the grid for the second time this season in a thrilling final qualifying session at the Jacarepagua circuit in Brazil today.

McCoy ended the session in fourth place, his best time of 1.50.927 set on his penultimate lap. That time is exactly a second inside the circuit record held by Tadayuki Okada from 1997 and left him just 0.3s off Max Biaggi's pole position.

The Australian slashed a massive 1.6s off his fastest time from yesterday's opening session, testament to the high level of performance offered by Dunlop's qualifying tyres.

The 30-year-old might have bumped himself further up the standings had a slowing rider not thwarted his last flying lap.  McCoy's return to form ­ today's excellent performance being his second front row start in the last three races ­ is a reminder that when free from injuries, he is one of the world's fastest riders.

Team-mate John Hopkins, making his first appearance at the tricky Rio circuit, will start from 14th as he knocked almost two seconds off his time from yesterday. No other rider in the 20-strong field managed such a drastic improvement.

GARRY McCOY ­ 4th 1.50.927 - "I thought I had a chance of pole position on that final run but it didn't happen. After yesterday I had a good feeling for what the Dunlop qualifying tyres were capable of. I knew I could get two fast laps out of them so I just went for it. Jeremy McWilliams held me up on the final lap. I guess he didn't realise that I was on qualifiers and going for my quick lap. It's really tight out there, all the times are very close and obviously I'm happy to be on the front row. Things are getting better all the time for me. I did quite a few laps on my race set-up with race tyres and everything feels pretty comfortable."

JOHN HOPKINS ­ 14th 1.51.75 - "I'm pretty happy really because we never really made any changes to the bike until this afternoon's session. I was still trying to learn more about the circuit this morning. I did some good times using race tyres and I've got to thank Dunlop, they have given us some good tyres for this race. I'd liked to have been a bit further up but my aim will be to get a good start and get away with a few of the leading guys like I've managed in the last couple of races."

PETER CLIFFORD ­ DIRECTOR OF RACING - "That was an awesome performance from both guys. That was Garry back to the way we all know he can ride. Today he showed that when fully fit he is a match for anybody out there. John is only a second off pole position and as always he has got some very notable opposition behind him. We have to say a big thanks to Dunlop as well. We cut down on the amount of experimental tyres Garry and John normally use to work with what we know and that paid dividends."